There is a bit of defiance in each woman which does not want to humble itself under any sovereignty. In each, there is something of that desire which reaches for forbidden fruit.
Saint Edith Stein
Spirituality of the Christian Woman (excerpt)
Lectures to the Organization of Catholic Women, Zurich (1932)
Stein, E 2017, Essays On Woman, The Collected Works of Edith Stein, Book 2, translated from the German by Oben, F, ICS Publications, Washington D.C.
Featured image: Eve is reaching out, past the head of the crafty serpent, to her husband Adam in this oil on canvas diptych by the Florentine painter Giuliano di Piero di Simone Bugiardini (1475–1554). The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City tells us more about this unique artwork:
These two paintings depicting the biblical story of the temptation of Eve were probably made to be set within the wall paneling of a Florentine bedroom around 1520. Bugiardini painted several comparable oblong nude figures for similar settings but more typically the figures are taken from classical history or myth. Bugiardini and his contemporary Francesco Granacci, whose works are displayed nearby, both knew Michelangelo well and were part of the group of talented painters who studied with Domenico Ghirlandaio.
Carmelite Quotes 
Typically a male dominated statement. Our society is so ant anti female, always putting women beneath men as subservient beings.
Does it sound different coming from the mind of a woman speaking to women, like Professor Edith Stein did in her lecture? 🤔 This is the culmination of a series of quotes from the Saint and her 1932 lecture. Perhaps the context will be of interest to you.
The context does not diminish the anti female quality, – on the contrary it amplifies it. Self-sacrifice and selflessness always comes from a place of sovereignty. Otherwise it is not freely given, but is mere compulsion, a form of subservience.